Chuck Liddell, the famous UFC Hall of Famer and former light heavyweight champ, is used to taking in fights from up close. But come Friday night, he’ll have a different view from inside the ring.
Liddell will be officiating the latest celebrity boxing bout when former Lakers star Lamar Odom takes on Aaron Carter on Friday night at the Showboat Casino in Atlantic City. Liddell has refereed fights in the past, but initially wasn’t sure how Carter would be able to survive against the former pro athlete in Odom, who has guaranteed a first-round knockout.
“My wife talked to Damon, the guy who promotes the show,” Liddell told Pete Hoffman on the latest episode of The Fight Fan. “When he first asked me I was like ‘wait, Lamar Odom and who? Aaron Carter?’ Talk about a David and Goliath. But I’ve always liked doing these…I love watching them. They’re fun.”
The Odom/Carter bout will be the latest fight that will likely feel more like entertainment than competition, like the Floyd Mayweather and Logan Paul fight last weekend. But Liddell is a fan of this new wave of celebrity boxing matches, even if some established fans of combat sports see them as more of a sideshow.
“I like going out there and watching,” said Liddell, who took in the Mayweather/Paul fight in person. “It’s entertaining. It’s a different kind of entertainment. I think it’s funny when people complain about it not being a real fight or it’s not high-level boxing…complaining there’s too many music acts and things like that. That’s what you’re buying…You bought a sideshow that’s for entertainment value only. You either like it or you don’t.”
Liddell hopes Saturday’s fight brings in more fans to the celebrity matches, which don’t seem to be going away, and bring more eyes to the sport and hopefully draw more interest to real fights with real stakes.
“They do have some real fights on the card,” Liddell said. “If you get some people who have never watched boxing to see their sport, and if they like it, maybe they’ll watch a regular boxing card…there’s a lot of people who watch these things that would never order a fight.”
Listen to Liddell’s full interview on The Fight Fan below!
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